8 IS ENOUGH: Plymouth earns second straight mercy win in district romp
Plymouth freshman Vivian Christienson motors up the field during the Wildcats’ 8-0 victory over Franklin.
It’s been awhile — May 14, to be exact — since Plymouth’s girls soccer team hasn’t won a mercy rule-shortened match by the score of 8-0.
On Wednesday in an MHSAA Division district semifinal against Livonia Franklin, the red-hot Wildcats won for the second consecutive time in less than 80 minutes when Juniper Talley scored the eighth goal just nine minutes into the second half.
Now 8-8-2 (according to MHSAA.com), the Wildcats advance to Friday’s 6 p.m. district championship match against Salem, which sidelined Canton, 3-1, in Wednesday’s second semifinal game.
Rocks up next
Although they’re on a roll, the Wildcats know the competition is about to get a couple notches more fierce as the state-ranked Rocks bring a 13-3-1 record into Friday’s district finale.
Plymouth took control early against Franklin, which packed the box with defenders in front of keeper Natalia Orozco, who made a couple brilliant saves.
Four-year varsity player and captain Emma Johnson gave the ‘Cats the only goal they’d need when she roped home a shot 14 minutes into the contest.
Sleiman’s goal bursts Patriots’ bubble
Maya Sleiman’s net-finder with 9:22 remaining in the first half opened the floodgates for the winners, who tallied two more goals — from Johnson and Niyah Armstrong — before halftime.
Plymouth’ goals-scoring tenacity increased in the second half as it netted four goals in less than 10 minutes to end the match due to the MHSAA’s eight-goal mercy rule.
Second-half goal-scorers were Jillian Steffen, Vivian Christianson, Johnson (who completed a hat-trick on an assist from Jayla Toins) and Talley, who scored with 30:23 on the clock.
Sharing the clean sheet for the Wildcats were Ashleigh Meldrum and Leyana Hussein.
Friday’s district final will be played on the P-CEP’s North Turf Field.
